Cable grips



Oct. 16, 1956 D, KELLEMS CABLE GRIPS Filed May 22, 1951 I I INVENTOR Y,WLJLLE/w United CABLE GRIPS Application May 22, 1951, Serial No.227,639

7 Claims. (Cl. 24-123) This invention relates to braided, open mesh,wire cable grips, and more particularly to the end loops, eyes orendings of such devices, whereby a grip with an article gripped therein,may be attached to a pulling line or a supporting means.

Many attempts have been made in the past to produce satisfactory pullingeyes for open mesh cable grips, but while some of such prior eyes wereadvantageous in some respects, they possessed disadvantages in otherrespects, which detracted from their success in practical use. Tooperate properly in use, the pulling eye of a cable grip must be simplein construction, be of small size and at the same time be as strong asthe open mesh tube or body of the grip. These factors are of especialimportance where the grip is designed to pull cables through conduits.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an improvedcable grip eye, which will be exceedingly simple in construction, ofsmall size and yet will enable the full strength of the grip to beutilized.

The above object is achieved in accordance with the invention, byselectively ending certain of the strands of which the body of the gripis formed, in a mechanically swaged collar, and by extending selectedother strands of such body through such collar and weaving them eitheralone or with additional wires, into a rope or ropes suitable forforming the eye or eyes desired.

The invention also contemplates providing an improved cable grip inwhich the woven extended wires of the eye are evenly stranded into asmooth, perfect rope-shaped form.

A further object of the invention is to provide an improved cable gripwith a simply constructed, completely successful, swivel eye.

Other objects of the invention as well as the advantages thereof willbecome apparent after a perusal of the following description when readin connection with the accompanying drawings, in which Fig. 1 is anelevational view of a cable grip constructed in accordance with theinvention; Fig. 2 is a similar view of the upper portion of such grip,on an enlarged scale and partly in ,section to show the assembly moreclearly; Fig. 3 is an exploded view, partly in section, showing thedraft end of a grip made in accordance with the invention, but providedwith a pulling eye, which will rotate or swivel relative to the body ofthe mesh; Fig. 4 is an elevational view of the draft end of a lufng orslack-type pulling grip with the same eye construction as shown in Figs.1 and 2, and Fig. 5 is an elevational View of the draft end of anotherembodiment of the invention.

In the drawings, the reference number indicates generally, the body ofthe grip in all of the several modifications of my invention. The body10 of the grip is composed of a plurality of wire strands interlocked orinterwoven to form an open mesh structure adapted to be placed insurrounding gripping relationship with an article and having anysuitable form. Some examples of the forms in which the grip body 10 maybe made are illustrated in the E. E. Kellems Patent No. 2,017,625,issued October 15, 1935. The strands of the grip body 10 in all of theseveral embodiments are preferably formed with looped ends 11 andbraided toward the pulling or draft end of the grip. The strands orwires at the pulling end of the grip are then gathered into a singlegroup which extends through a tubular collar or sleeve, such as thecollar 13 shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The strands or wires may alsobe grouped into pairs between the grip body 10 and the aforesaid singlegroup thereof, and each such pair threaded through a tubular protectingmember 12 (note Fig. 3). Each of the members 12 are straight for themajor portions of their lengths and then are inclined inwardly towardthe collar. By this construction, the neck of the grip is maintained asflexible as possible and the shoulders formed by the members 12 affordprotection to the end of the gripped cable and to the pairs of strandsor Wires against wear and prevents the mesh from slipping forward in theuse of the grip.

The collar 13 may be made of any suitable material, but it is preferredthat it be made of a metal which readily lends itself to swaging, suchas aluminum. In the form of grip shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 4 of thedrawings, the upper end of the collar 13 is preferably tapered. Thesingle group of wires enclosed by the collar 13 are composed of wires 1Swhich have been ended in such collar, and wires 16 which extend throughthe collar and are continued outward therefrom. The wires 16, beyond thecollar 13, are twisted smoothly upon each other into rope form and theouter end 17 of such rope is turned back and inserted into the collar13, thereby forming a loop 18 at the draft end of the grip. A wedgingpin 14 may be inserted in the remaining space in the collar 13, so thata minimum reduction of the collar 13 will be required in the mechanicalswaging operation which is next applied to the collar 13. The collar 13is swaged tightly upon and around the wires and wedging pin or pins 14,preferably by rotary swaging, but may be accomplished by any othersuitable method to produce the necessary reduction in diameter or tosecure the wire ends 15 and rope end 17 in position within the collar13.

It will be understood from the foregoing that selected wires forming thebody of the grip are ended in the collar 13 and that a selected numberof other wires forming the body of the grip are continued through thecollar 13 to form the loop 18, as the number o-f wires used to form themesh 10 of the body of the grip is greater than has been found necessaryto form a loop or eye 18 of adequate strength. Furthermore, by ending aselected number of these wires in the collar, the number of wiresremaining may be controlled so as to produce a smooth, tightly strandedrope of adequate strength and flexibility for forming the eye or pullingloop 18. It has been found that the number of wires retained forstranding in the eye 18 should for best results be either seven ornineteen wires depending upon the number of wires that has been used inthe construction of the mesh 10. Thus, for example, if seven wires areselected, such wires can be twisted so that they provide a rope which istightly stranded, yet smooth and perfectly round in cross-section,without sacrifice of strength or flexibility. Under certain conditions,such as when the number of wires in the mesh 10 are not suicient forproper stranding, it may be necessary to add one or more additionalwires having a length such as to enable them to start in the collar 13,be stranded with the other wires into the rope of which the loop isformed, and ended with the rope end 17 inthe collar 13.

If it should be desired to increase the length of the wires between thebody 10 of the grip and the collar 13 in order to attain increasedflexibility in the neck portion of the grip, this may be accomplishedwithout sacrifice of the flexibility thus attained and without slippingof the mesh by employing a flexible tubular holding or retaining member19 such as shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings. This flexible member 19abuts against the lower end of the collar 13 and cooperates with thelatter to hold or retain the wires in proper position at the neck of thegrip, but because of its flexible nature and the increased length of thewires in such region, it makes for greater flexibility in the neck ofthe grip, The exible member 19 may be made of any suitable material. Forexample, it has been found that a piece of braided neoprene hose ofstandard design functions satisfactorily.

If the wires are not to be llengthened between the collar 13 and thebody 10 of the grip, I have found that the employment of resilient meansin such region enables the accomplishment of other advantageous results.In Figs. l and 2 of the drawings, such means is shown as being composedof an inner resilient member 20 and an outer resilient member 21. Themember 20 may be made of rubber or other suitable resilient material andis slightly tapered upwardly. The outer member 21 is in the nature of asleeve made of molded neoprene and of such dimensions that it tightlycompresses the wires about the inner member 20 and between the latterand the collar 13, such compression being sufficient to hold the innermember securely in position without the necessity of additional holdingmeans. By reason of this construction, the wires of the grip in theregion of such members are held securely in position so that the meshbody will retain its full diameter without collapsing or necking-down atthe pulling end, thereby facilitating more rapid assembly of the grip orcable ends. In addition to coacting with the inner member 20 to attainthis result, the outer member 21 protects the corners from abrasion atthe shoulder and provides a smooth, exible leading portion or shoulderto the grip to facilitate the threading of the grip through electricalconduits.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings, the wires of the meshbody 10 are all ended in a collar 24 which forms part of a swivel unit.As in the construction shown in Fig. 2, an internal wedging member 25may be inserted in the collar 24 to take up the space remaining afterinsertion of the wires to minimize the required reduction of the collarin swaging such parts together. It has been found that the wedge 25 willgive best results if it is slightly tapered and is inserted from theouter end, 4

as shown. The slight taper in the pin or wedge 25 not only makes it easyto insert and increases the wedging action, but after the collar 24 isreduced by swaging, such taper also causes a gradually increased bindingaction on the wires so that the full strength of the mesh body 10 ismaintained with a minimum size of collar 24. This minimum size isessential to the construction illustrated in order to produce a pullingeye which is free to rotate on the collar 24 and at the same time iscompact enough to pass Vfreely through the limited space of anelectrical conduit. Mounted `on the neck of the grip between the collar24 and the grip body 10 are a threaded member or internal nut 26 and apair of anti-friction discs or washers 27, which are threaded on theneck of the grip before the collar 24 is mounted on the wire ends. Thecollar 24 and thrust washers 27 have a cross-sectional area such thatthey may be passed through the internally threaded end 28 of a pullingeye 29 provided with an internal chamber 30 for the reception of suchparts. The nut 26 is then screwed into threaded engagement with the end28 of the pulling eye and locked in place therein by peaning or in anyother suitable manner. It will thus be understood that the pulling eyeunit, composed of the members 26 and 29 will freely rotate upon andabout the collar 24, thereby producing a swivel pulling eye of compactdesign and substantial strength.

It will be noted that the cable grip shown in Fig. 4 of the drawings hasa draft end which is offset from the grip body 10 in order to enable thegripped cable 30 to be extended therethrough. This type of grip is ofspecial advantage for removing cables from a conduit or for pulling upslack near the end of the cable. It has been found that in the use ofsuch a grip, certain of the wires of the body 10 are not placed undertension by the pulling force exerted on the grip. Such wires may beended in the eye collar 13 in the manner previously explained, but inorder to reduce the number of wires gathered together in such collar,certain of such slack wires may be cut short and ended in the Lipper endof the grip body 10. Thus, as shown in Fig. 4, the slack wires 31, 31have been cut short and their ends secured together and to a lead wire33 which extends into the collar 13, by means of a tubular clip 32 whichafter such wires have been enclosed thereby, is flattened to permanentlysecure them together. By this construction the mesh at this point yofthe grip, will retain its shape and the lead wire 33 is prevented by theclip 32 from cutting into the jacket of the cable.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings, certain selectedwires are ended inside the collar 34, and certain selected wires areextended through such collar 34 as in the constructions of Figs. 2 and4. The grip shown in Fig. 5 differs in the respect that the extendedwires are formed into two branches, 35, 35 and the wires in each branchare woven into rope form. The ends of the ropes formed by the wires inbranches 35, 35 are inserted into the opposite ends of a U-shaped metaltube 36, preferably so that the ends of such branches are in overlappingrelation within the tube 36. The metal tube 36 is then tightlycompressed upon the overlapping ends of the branches 35, 35 therebyforming with such branches, an open-shaped loop or eye by which thecable grip may be pulled. It will be understood that instead of dividingthe extended wires into two branches to form one loop as shown in Fig.5, the extended wires may be divided into more groups to form two ormore of such loops depending upon the purposes for which the grip ismade. It will also be understood, that by so ending a selected number ofthe wires in the collar 34 and dividing the selected extended Wires intotwo or more branches, each branch can be made up of the proper number ofstrands or wires which will enable the formation of a perfect rope.Thus, this construction not only enables the production of an eye havinguniform perfect stranding, but as a consequence thereof, provides an eyeof improved appearance and increased strength. In this connection also,it may be advisable in some cases, to extend all of the wires of thegrip body 10 through the collar 34 and utilize all of such wires forstranding, and even add additional wires which begin inside of thecollar 34 and extend outwardly therefrom in order to provide in eachbranch a number of wires which can be formed into a perfect rope, as haspreviously been explained.

While I have hereinabove described and illustrated in the drawings,preferred embodiments of my invention, it will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that changes and modifications may be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit of the invention or the scope of theappended claims.

I claim: l. In a gripping device of the character descrlbed, a plurality`of wire strands interwoven to form an open mesh body portion adapted tobe placed in surrounding gripping relation with an article, the strandsat one end of said body being grouped together, a collar surroundingsaid grouped strands and securing the same together, all of the strands'forming said body portion entering into the inner end of said collar, aselected number' of such entering strands ending in said collar beforeextending beyond the outer end of said collar, and a selected number ofsuch entering strands extending beyond the outer end of said collar andbeing formed into a draft loop and said collar being constituted ofmetal material compressed in a radial ldirection to hold the wiresenclosed by said collar securely in clampcd relation by acircumferential gripping action.

2'. In a gripping device of the character described, a plura-lity ofwire strands interwoven to form an open mesh fbody portion adapted to beplaced in surrounding gripping relation with an article, the strands atone end of said body being grouped together, a collar surrounding saidgrouped strands and securing the `same together, all of the strandsforming said body portion entering into the inner end of said collar, aselected number of such entering strands ending in said collar beforeextending beyond the outer end of said collar, and a selected number ofsuch entering strands extending beyond the outer end of said collar, thestrands extending beyond said collar being woven into rope form, `andthe end of 4said rope being inserted into the outer end of and securedwithin said collar and said collar being constituted of metal materialcompressed in a radial direction to hold the wires enclosed by saidcollar securely in clamped relation by a circumferential grippingaction.

3. In a gripping device of the character described, a plurality of wire-strands interwoven to form an open mesh body portion adapted to beplaced in surrounding gripping relation with an article, the strands yatyone end of said body being grouped together, a collar surrounding saidgrouped strands and securing the same together, :a selected number ofsaid grouped strands ending in said collar, and a selected number ofsaid grouped strands extending beyond said collar, the strands extendingbeyond said collar being separated into branches, each `of said branchesbeing woven into rope form, and means securing the outer ends of saidbranches together to form at least one draft loop.

4. In a gripping device of the character described, a plurality of wirestrands interwoven to form an open mesh body portion adapted to beplaced in surrounding gripping relation with an article, the strands atone end of said body being grouped together, means enclosing saidgrouped strands and securing the same together, a rst resilient membercontained within the upper end of said body portion, 4a second resilientmember enclosing the upper end of said body portion and said firstresilient member and exerting a compressive force yon the latter, saidsecond resilient member extending above said irst resilient member intoabutting relation with said enclosing means, and a draft eye connectedto said enclosing means.

5. In a gripping device of the character described, a plurality of wirestrands interwoven to form an open mesh body portion adapted to beplaced in surrounding gripping relation with an article, the strands atone end of said body being grouped together, means enclosing saidgrouped strands and securing the same together, a plug of resilientmaterial contained Within the upper end of said body portion and havingan external diameter substantially equal to the normal internal diameterof said body portion, a resilient sleeve enclosing said plug and theupper end of said body portion and exerting a compressive force on saidparts such that said plug is securely retained in position within thebody portion, said sleeve extending above said plug and securing thestrand portions intermediate said plug and enclosing means againstdisplacement, and a draft eye connected to said enclosing means.

6. In a gripping device of the character described, a plurality vof wirestrands interwoven to form an open mesh body portion adapted to beplaced in surrounding gripping relation with an article, substantiallyall of the strands forming said body portion being grouped together atone end of the latter, means comprising a collar enclosing said groupedstrands and securing the latter together, said collar being constitutedof metal material compressed in a radial direction to hold Ithe groupedstrands securely in clamped relation by a circumferential grippingaction, some at least of the grouped strands entering `the inner end ofsaid securing means terminating in such means before extending beyondthe outer end of such means, the strands extending beyond Ithe outer endof said securing means extending therefrom as a single group and thenbeing returned 4as a single group to Aform a draft eye Ibeyond saidsecuring means, the end portions of said grouped strands yforming aninner terminal part of said draft eye `divisible and set apart yfrom theportions of `the entering strands contained in said securing means andbeing connected .by the latter to said strand portions to eifect a drafteye on said body portion, said inner terminal part being connected withan inner surface of said securing means yand coacting with the latter totransmit -at least lone half the longitudinal forces' exerted on saiddraft eye to said securing means inwardly of the outer end of the latterand through said securing means to said strand portions.

7. In a gripping device of the character described, a plurality of wirestrands interwoven to form an open mesh body portion adapted to beplaced in surrounding gripping lrelation with an article, the majorportion at least -of the strands at `one end of said body being groupedtogether, a collar enclosing said grouped strands and securing the sametogether, a plurality of said body strands ending at the upper end ofsaid body portion and below said collar, means connecting the ends ofsuch ended strands to at least one strand extending into said collar,and `a draft loop formed from .the grouped strands enclosed by saidcollar, the number of strands in said draft loop being less than thenumber of strands extending upwardly from the other end of said .bodyportion to form the mesh thereof and entering the inner end of saidcollar from said body portion, said collar being constituted of metalmaterial compressed in a radial direction to hold the grouped strandssecurely in clamped relation by a circumferential gripping action, andsaid draft loop being secured to said collar so that longitudinal forcesexerted on said draft loop are transmitted to said collar inwardly ofthe outer end of the latter and through such inner portions of thecollar substantially uniformly to all of the strands enclosed by saidcollar.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 814,472Noonan Mar. 6, 1906 1,114,637 Nolan Oct. 20, 1914 1,373,590 Bodmer Apr.5, 1921 1,657,722 Page Jan. 31, 1928 1,732,410 Martin Oct. 22, 19291,802,657 Kellems Apr. 28, 1931 1,910,269 Sunderland May'23, 19332,017,625 Kellems Oct. 15, 1935 2,249,119 Di Palma July 15, 19412,304,306 Hobbs Dec. 8, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS 622,561 Germany Dec. 19,1935

